


Code Cerberus

by marauders_groupie



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: A Three-Headed Hell Hound Escapes the Underworld and Ventures Into the Suburbs, Alternate Universe - Crack, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Mythology, F/M, How to Train Your Three-Headed Dog and Refuse to Give It Back to Hades, Humor, You Won't Believe What Happened Next!, featuring PTA mom Josephine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21585958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marauders_groupie/pseuds/marauders_groupie
Summary: When Cerberus escapes the Underworld, Bellamy has to find him before he can terrorize the Earth.He sets off in search, only to find out that Cerberus was tamed by Madi, a little girl living in the suburbs. She and her mom, Clarke, aren’t going to part from the three-headed hound easily.*"You named him Spot?"Madi pokes Cerberus in the back and explains, all very rational, "He has a spot on his butt. Wanna see?"
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 26
Kudos: 428
Collections: Bellarke Bingo





	Code Cerberus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AshesAndDrums](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshesAndDrums/gifts).



> Jesus, I never laughed when writing more than when writing this fic. I had a blast.
> 
> This fic is inspired by [this post](https://marauders-groupie.tumblr.com/post/189246557452) \- including Madi naming Cerberus Spot. It's really a great story - make sure you check it out.
> 
> Thanks @ Ashleigh for prompting and @ the people behind Bellarke Bingo.
> 
> Have fun!

"Your dog is gone," his sister informs him. "We have no idea where he went, but Lincoln is pretty sure he's in the mortal realm."

On the list of things Bellamy wants to hear, there is no mention of his very huge, very supernatural dog going missing.

Especially not when Octavia was supposed to be dogsitting.

But because his life is objectively very fucked, Bellamy pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a seat.

"His name is Cerberus."

Octavia glares at him. She's wearing her human outfit; combat boots and a black leather jacket. 

The only thing giving her true nature away is the fact that she frowns, and he can hear thunder rolling in the distance.

"You wanna address the main concern first? You've got a three-headed dog roaming the Earth. How long before someone calls the CNN?"

"Fine," he shoots back, gritting his teeth. "I'll go look."

*

It turns out, Cerberus isn't just roaming the Earth. 

He's roaming a suburban community with neatly trimmed front lawn grass and pastel facades.

Bellamy walks in, and he immediately knows he doesn't belong.

It's not that he's the god of afterlife. 

It's that he feels _scruffy_. Has always felt scruffy in these pristine neighborhoods with their PTA moms and bake sales.

Feeling very inadequate all of a sudden, Bellamy fixes his suit and tie, and ventures toward the playground.

He can feel Cerberus lingering in the shadows. 

The red eyes lighting up the darkness like they always do when they're at home and Bellamy's had a shitty day.

His dog has been missing for three human days now and fuck, he misses him.

"Cerberus! Come here, boy!" he tries calling, but to no avail. The cul-de-sac is silent. The only sound in the world are shutters being closed down the street and…

A yip.

 _Cerberus_.

The sound takes him to a house down the street, a relatively small one with a wraparound porch and colorful staircases. They look like a kid's tried to play artist.

Bellamy smiles.

"No, bad dog!"

There's a human voice then - a little girl, by the sound of it - and Bellamy rounds the corner.

He can almost _see_ Cerberus terrorizing this lovely neighborhood with his form alone. 

Humans, he knows, are not used to their pets having three heads and a growl that sounds like the undead.

But when he steps into the backyard, all he sees is his objectively terrifying dog licking a little girl's face with all three tongues.

She's not screaming out in terror. 

She's _laughing in glee._

"Spot, come on, we'll be late for-" then the girl spots him and, careful, cocks her head. "Hello."

Bellamy tries for a smile, but he looks at Cerberus' razor-sharp claws resting on the girl's thigh. 

"Hey, that's actually-"

The girl's eyes widen and she hugs his dog's neck, burying her face in his fur for a second, before explaining: "This is my dog, Spot. You want to meet him? I know he _looks_ scary," and she screws up her face at that, her little nose wrinkling, "but he's really the _goodest_ dog you'll ever meet."

Bellamy laughs at that, incredulous at how affectionate she is, and comes closer to where the two are lounging.

Cerberus, for his part, looks at Bellamy like he wants to say: _What? She gives cuddles._

So he just kneels by them, petting his ridiculous dog's largest head.

"Spot?"

She pokes Cerberus in the back and explains, all very rational, "He has a spot on his butt. Wanna see?"

"No," Bellamy says, a chuckle escaping him. "I'm fine. My name is Bellamy."

"I'm Madi."

He smiles at her. The kid is adorable, and she has eyes smarter than half the older people he'd met.

"Nice to meet you. Are your parents around?"

Madi frowns again, a staggeringly _old_ expression for someone who can't be older than six. She reminds Bellamy of himself, centuries ago.

"I just have my mom. And she's making dinner. You wanna stay?" she asks, perking up in a second, and Bellamy wants to say yes, impossibly.

Cerberus then barks, moving to Bellamy's left, and he follows his gaze.

There's a woman rounding the corner, a sickly sweet expression on her face.

"What's going on here?"

Then, her gaze lands on Cerberus and her smile falters.

Before Bellamy's had a chance to respond, the screen door slams open and he hears a third voice:

"Any problems, Josephine?"

The woman who comes out is… gorgeous, for lack of a better word.

Her hands, now resting on her hips, are covered in paint, and her hair looks like a bird's nest, but God, Bellamy hasn't seen anyone more vibrant than her in centuries.

She also looks familiar.

"Clarke, your daughter's dog is-" the woman, Josephine, searches for words, disgusted and shocked, before finally deciding on - "interesting. I don't think the HOA would approve."

Clarke, for her part, only crooks her eyebrow at the woman and, calmly says, " _Josephine_ , your kid eats crayons for lunch. My kid is fine."

Cerberus lets out a laugh-like sound.

"Bye now."

When Josephine has left, the full weight of Clarke's gaze falls on Bellamy and he realizes that he's a stranger, talking to her daughter in their backyard.

"And who are you?"

He straightens up immediately, barely suppressing the urge to bow. Clarke looks at him like she's royalty - a queen demanding answers.

"His name is Bellamy, mom. We were just playing with Spot," Madi reasons, rolling her eyes, and he finds himself agreeing fervently with the kid.

Then he supplies, "The dog is actually mine. I was looking for him."

Madi turns on him.

"He's my dog! He's lived us for three days now! If he's your dog, why didn't you look for him earlier?" Then, to Clarke, "He's _our_ dog, mom."

Clarke nods at her, but glares at Bellamy. Then she demands, "So you're not some psycho stalking my kid?"

He's the god of the afterlife but no, not a psycho. 

"No, ma'am."

Then she nods, a resolve forming in her eyes.

"Let's have dinner. Then we'll talk."

*

The Griffin girls have always lived in their small yellow house, Madi eagerly explains as Clarke finishes up dinner. 

With _Spot_ at her side, she doesn't seem to mind prattling on about the history of the home. The old great-great-grandmother who hid her lovers in the cellar included.

"So mom said we can't use the cellar unless we have lovers over," she whispers to Bellamy in confidence, Cerberus weaving between her legs. "And she said we have to be _feral_ to do grandma Griffin justice."

It startles a laugh out of him.

"It's tradition, Bellamy," Madi explains, very serious again with her little arms crossed at her chest. "Don't _you_ have a tradition in your family?"

"Sure I do." He and Octavia, his sister who is also Bellona, the goddess of destruction and war, traditionally get plastered and bitch about their lives every third Friday.

He doesn't say that, though. He remembers a much older tradition.

"My mom made us watch meteor showers and make a wish to keep our great-grandfather in memory."

Great-grandfather Blake, an astrophysicist, probably didn't give a shit about meteor showers, but it was still nice.

"There. So you know."

For Madi, everything is that simple.

She brushes it aside and curls up with Cerberus under the table as Bellamy offers to help Clarke.

He has been here for less than an hour, and they've already made him feel like he's part of their family.

The Griffin girls, as he comes to understand during the dinner, have a penchant for adopting strays.

"It's his dog, Madi," Clarke explains, petting Cerb between the heads. "He must miss him."

"But he likes being here!" Madi protests. "He helps me do my homework!"

It hurts, seeing how much the kid likes his dog. Even Clarke eyes him fondly. He's probably received more cuddles from them in the last three days than in the last three centuries with Bellamy.

He's just too damn busy all the time.

Cerberus, for his part, stays out of it, retreating to Clarke's lap.

Even stranger is the fact that he doesn't hurt them. 

His presence doesn't harm them. Usually, regular humans would feel his effect - the effect of the Underworld - within a few hours.

But if anything, Clarke and Madi made him less gloomy. Sure, his eyes are still red, but it's a happy red.

His claws, which would be razors to regular human skin, don't even leave pinpricks on the Griffin girls.

They're special.

But even before that, Bellamy _likes_ them.

They remind him of his own family. His mom, with her strange traditions and long nights. All the evenings they had dinner just like this. Before he and Octavia grew of age, and they had to follow in their godly parents' footsteps.

And because he is sentimental and charmed by the two women with their strange traditions, Bellamy offers, "What if I brought him to play with you?"

Madi's eyes light up and she looks to Clarke immediately.

She smiles at Bellamy, open and unassuming, a brightly warming smile that shakes him to the core.

"Thank you, Bellamy. We'd love that."

*

Cerberus hates being in the Underworld after. He's sad and gloomy whenever Bellamy can't take him up, and the worst part is, Bellamy gets it.

Every time they visit Arkadia, Cerberus - or Spot, as he answers to these days - and Madi play like a pair of wild wolves, while he and Clarke catch up.

She's a doctor, and Bellamy suddenly realizes why she looked so familiar. 

Clarke stole a lot of souls meant for the afterlife from him, and he loved her for it.

He's never liked seeing people leave their loved ones behind. If Clarke could stop another soul from walking through the gate, then it was another soul Bellamy was happy for.

"What do you do?" she asks, blowing the steam off her cup of coffee. She paints sometimes, she told him, and gets very little time to unwind.

Seeing her relaxed like this makes Bellamy feel a little lighter.

"Oh, I'm in the retirement business."

He doesn't speak a lot about himself, lets Clarke draw her own conclusions. The sleek black car, suits he wears… She's a smart woman.

"So you have no problem with a three-headed dog who glows in the dark?"

Clarke gives a half-hearted shrug. "Pets are weird. Madi likes him, and that's all I care about."

It's as easy as that, with her.

She cares about her daughter's happiness above all else, and Bellamy respects that.

He knows she could be rough to him if she wanted to, but he appreciates that there is always a slice of cake waiting for him in the fridge.

The Griffin girls, waving at him and Cerb from their porch as he speeds away, all four of them counting down the minutes until their next reunion.

*

Once, he can't make it. 

They usually get together on Saturdays, but this Saturday is rough. There are a lot of souls who are terrified and need guidance.

He sends Octavia to take Cerb to his play date, but she returns with his dog in tow, and a coy expression on her face.

"You should go to the Arkadia Memorial Hospital."

His heart skips a beat - something he hasn't felt in eons.

"Is Clarke alright?"

Octavia nods, lets Cerb off the leash. He nuzzles Bellamy's leg and Bellamy crouches, hugs him closer.

_I know. I miss our girls, too._

"She's fine, but you should see what she's doing."

Bellamy doesn't understand until he creeps into the operating theatre, Clarke already at work.

He's hiding in the shadows - melting into them. Usually, he likes knowing that she can see him. But now, he is puzzled by Octavia's look, by the fact that the Griffin girls don't seem to mind his and Cerberus' ghostly presences in their vibrant home.

And then he sees Clarke Griffin surrounded by bodies, the only doctor there and the curtains drawn closed, and he understands why.

He understands why they never made sense.

Clarke stands there, eyes closed, and he watches the people's lungs fill with air.

She waves a hand and they open their eyes.

The souls, barely through the gate, exit and come back into the world of living.

Something in Bellamy breaks.

He sees her for who she is for the first time.

"You're Wanheda."

She pauses in her motions, and turns around to look at him. There is a small smile on her mouth.

"And you're Hades," she counters, the smile never faltering. Covered in blood instead of paint, she looks like the most beautiful natural disaster in the world. "I don't judge."

Bellamy chuckles, hangs his head and regrets it immediately - he _wants_ to soak in her light. He pushes himself off the wall and comes to stand in front of her.

"Let me take you out to dinner, Clarke. Please."

She frowns at him, but it's good natured. The people around them exhale when she does, and he thinks she must still be there - exalted by the world where she can revive.

The look in her eyes is soft, and wherever he looks, there is impossible light.

"I'd love to, but I _am_ jeopardizing your employment."

Bellamy laughs, weaves a hand into her hair. "The retirement plan sucks anyway."

When he kisses her, he fills up with light.

*

"How long have you known who I am?" he asks over dinner. She's twisting spaghetti around her fork, and Bellamy can't stop wanting to laugh.

Being in love is nothing like he thought it would be.

"Oh, the dog was a dead giveaway," she says, cool, but smirks at him over a glass of wine. "Plus, I would've never let you around my kid if I didn't know you were a god of death."

This time, he does laugh. Can't help himself; she just keeps surprising him.

"You weren't afraid?"

"No. Madi's safe."

She says it with such absolute certainty that it becomes the truth in Bellamy's heart, as well. She says Madi is safe and Madi truly is.

After all, Wanheda is just another reincarnation. Millennia ago, she was Ishtar, and she brought the gates of the Underworld down to save the person she loved.

Bellamy has no doubt that she would do the same again. She could, and she knows it.

So she rests her palm on top of his hand, assured of her own power.

"I didn't want to say anything because you looked like you could really use a break."

"Thank you." He takes her palm, soft and glowing, and presses his lips to it. Her cheeks redden beautifully, and he wants to see that smile for the rest of his life.

But because they are now in the 21st century and they have responsibilities, Bellamy gets the check and drives her home.

He kisses her only after they're sure Madi and Spot - he no longer answers to Cerberus - are asleep, curled in on each other.

The world is theirs.

At least until the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's a wrap! I now know why crackfics are called that - I felt like I was on crack for writing it. Ashleigh, babe, I hope you like it! <3
> 
> Also, Octavia being Bellona and Clarke being Ishtar was inspired by [this post](https://marauders-groupie.tumblr.com/post/188843119932) and [Ashleigh's depiction of Clarke as Ishtar.](https://craniumhurricane.tumblr.com/post/160529953760)
> 
> I'm a slut for Greek mythology, but sometimes it just doesn't cover the characters fully. 
> 
> Find me in [my trashcan @marauders-groupie,](https://marauders-groupie.tumblr.com) byeee!


End file.
